Cyberpunk Says...

Cyberpunk fiction often depicts large corporations as more powerful than governments themselves, with a wide scope of capabilities and very little consequence to their gross misconduct. Human lives are reduced to a question of profit and loss, as was the case with the Tyrell Corporation in Blade Runner.

This dystopian perspective is truly not that removed from the real world. Capitalism itself relies heavily on the question of prioritization: to prioritize anything outside of generating revenue immediately risks the very foundation of a multitude of organizations. It's why Disney treats animators terribly, and why the niche marketplaces of webcomics or galleries severely underpay and mistreat their content creators.

The American military-industrial complex, which includes defense contractors, government agencies, politians, and soldiers quite literally infiltrate every single level of international society (Weber 2019). Ghost in the Shell serves as wonderful propaganda, arguably, in favor of the militarization of technology; the line between military and civilian life dissolves completely, as facial recognition and drone tech are as heavily utilized in the media as they are in the modern world.

Everyone's Favorite Military

Glancing Over Numbers

Lockheed Martin, one of the largest defense contractors in the United States, perfectly depicts the blend of corporate profit and national defense.

In the year 2020, Lockheed recieved over $75 billion in Pentagon contracts, a figure that was somehow more than the entire budget of the State Department and USAID combined (Hartung & Semler 2025). In spite of critiques for the F-35 fighter jet being overpriced and underperforming, Lockheed continues recieving massive funding with little to no governmental oversight, mirroring the Tyrell Corporation's prioritization of technological dominance over all ethical obligations.

The military-industrial complex thrives on constant conflict, which directly impacts the quality of life worldwide and the national budget. In 2023, the budget for the military reached $1.14 trillion dollars; for contrast, the budget for public health that same year was $100 billion. The budget for education, just to further the point, was $84 billion.

The Department of Homeland Security recieved more than seven times the funding for the Centers for Disease control over the past seven years. The Congressional Budget Office found that the U.S. military could save $100 billion without changing the country's national security strategy, and a Department of Defense study found $125 billion in unnecessary back-office expenses could easily be trimmed. Instead, recent years have found an increase in military budget, cutting even more funding from healthcare, education, public transportation, energy, and housing (National Priorities Project 2023).

Glancing Over Policies

The military industrial complex does not merely include manufacturing weapons. It shapes foreign policy, surveillance practices, and domestic policing. Defense contractors lobby Congress, fund think tanks, and advocate for contracts that continue their powerful hold on global politics, much like cyberpunk's themes of surveillance capitalism.

Globally, the military destabilizes various countries by promoting military solutions over diplomatic ones. There are a plethora of examples: currently, America's seige on Iran stems from America's military support of an ongoing genocide, and the American support for Middle Eastern suffering stems from American interests in natural resources and political alliances.

America's bombing of a girl's school in Iran served no political interests, offered no economic benefit, and established no military strategy outside of maximizing harm and grief to leverage against American enemies, the vast majority of whom are merely civilians.

Glimpsing Our Future

The unchecked growth, lack of transparency, and prioritization of profit absolutely indicates that cyberpunk was right. Corporations influence foreign policy more than diplomats. Surveillance is privatized. War is automated; people have been expecting a so-called "World War III" for nearly a decade. Profit literally dictates what matters more, fear tactics or a school's worth of elementary lives.

Works Cited

Hartung W.D. & Semler S. (2025). Profits of War: Top Beneficiaries of Pentagon Spending, 2020 – 2024 (2020) Costs of War | Brown University. Available at: https://costsofwar.watson.brown.edu/paper/profits-war-top-beneficiaries-pentagon-spending-2020-2024.

‌National Priorities Project. (2023). The Warfare State: How Funding for Militarism Compromises Our Welfare. National Priorities Project. https://www.nationalpriorities.org/analysis/2023/warfare-state-how-funding-militarism-compromises-our-welfare/

‌ Weber, R. N. (2019). Military-industrial complex. In Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/military-industrial-complex

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AI attestation: No AI was used in the creation of this post. Genuinely none; I'm far too passionate about how horrifying America's military industrial complex is to rely on some computer telling me what I know. I know this was very late in being written, and I'm truly so sorry.

The subgenre of Cyberpunk fiction has reimagined a possible future for our society. We see human life redefined by rapid technological advancements that join many other systemic issues, even amplifying them. Specifically, the exploitation of workers by corporations has become a central topic of discussion, as profit is often prioritized over human well-being. In these cyberpunk works, we see corporations controlling the labor of their workers and the conditions of everyday life in the name of technology. Real-world corporations such as Amazon resemble cyberpunk corporations through surveillance, labor control, and data-based exploitation, suggesting that while we are not fully in a cyberpunk dystopia, we are moving toward a system where corporate power increasingly resembles it, especially within digital capitalism.

Drawing on the works of Karl Marx, we identify the concept of alienated labor, in which workers become separated from the product of labor and from the act of labor itself. In Amazon’s case, workers have limited autonomy over their tasks, while being monitored by cameras and supervisors who will score them on their productivity (Ghaffary & Chandra, Vox, 2020). Digital capitalism has led to the ability to quantify productivity and allow workers to be penalized or fired for not obtaining quotas outlined by data analytics. As a result, the quantification of human labor by digital metrics now includes a psychological demand, as constant monitoring reduces autonomy and increases pressures to meet needs that are not human.

Using examples from cyberpunk narratives, Blade Runner’s Tyrell Corporation forces control over replicant life forms while prioritizing profit over ethical obligations, and in Neuromancer, Tessier-Ashpool S.A. represents corporations that operate beyond traditional economic and governmental powers. All of these examples mirror Amazon, where workers have raised concerns about physically demanding conditions, including standing for long hours without breaks and experiencing repetitive motion injuries. Paired with the ongoing debate for fairer wages, these factors contribute to an environment in which workers are being exploited, while their compensation is arguably not sufficient (New York Times, 2021). Reflecting on the boundaries between humans and technology, the integration of surveillance systems, data analytics, and performance metrics illustrates how technological advancement can intensify existing power structures rather than eliminate them. The similarities between the fictional businesses of cyberpunk literature and the modern workplace fortify that corporate dominance is not unusual in Western powers, especially the United States of America.

To continue, large corporations shape the democratic process through lobbying and participating in political matters. Amazon has invested heavily in lobbying efforts in the United States, spending millions of dollars annually to influence legislation related to taxation, labor laws, and antitrust regulation (OpenSecrets, 2023). These corporations can not only actively shape the economic outcomes in the market by funneling their financial resources to influence policy and align with their agenda. Moreover, research on political economy shows that economic elites often have disproportionate influence on policymaking through networks, access, and lobbying, rather than formal governmental roles (Gilens & Page, 2014). By concentrating democratic influence on a select few, policymaking can be influenced towards the benefit of the advantaged, which means someone is being more disadvantaged. The conversation gets more interesting as we evaluate figures such as Elon Musk, who has been recognized in public policy forums and as the former Senior Advisor to the President of the United States under the Trump Administration. Research on wealth and political influence has shown that economic elites and organized interest groups often have a substantial impact on public policy in the United States (Gilens & Page, 2014). Though not an official, Musk’s ability to surpass qualified individuals to assume the government title, thus influence, strengthens the argument that democratic power has a preference for high-income individuals and corporations.

These developments raise the question of whether such patterns are uniquely American. While corporate political influence exists globally, the United States is a supergiant in the corporate world and is known for its campaign finance system, deep lobbying industry, and the magnitude of its free-enterprise economic involvement in policymaking. Studies of comparative political systems suggest that regulatory frameworks in other countries can place stronger limits on corporate participation in politics, though globalization and digital markets increasingly allow corporations to operate across national boundaries and influence multiple regions simultaneously (Gilens & Page, 2014). So, as a country, we are not fully a dystopian cyberpunk-like system but rather are gradually shifting towards that as our reality. Ultimately, cyberpunk offers a lens on the struggle between the power of corporations and democratic oversight, and human exploitation. Though it has not reached the level of Neuromancer or Blade Runner, we can see workers are experiencing similar exploitative levels as seen by the Amazon company, and corporate elitism has an influence in political policy.

References Gilens, M., & Page, B. I. (2014). Testing theories of American politics: Elites, interest groups, and average citizens. Perspectives on Politics, 12(3), 564–581. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1537592714001595

Ghaffary, S., & Chandra, S. (2020). Amazon workers describe difficult conditions and strict productivity monitoring. Vox. https://www.vox.com

NBC News. (2021, August 1). Amazon now employs almost 1 million people in the U.S. https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/amazon-now-employs-almost-1-million-people-u-s-or-n1275539

OpenSecrets. (2023). Amazon lobbying spending. https://www.opensecrets.org

The New York Times. (2021). [Article on Amazon workers and working conditions] https://www.nytimes.com

AI was used only to format references.

Cyberpunk stories often show big companies with more power than governments. In the movie like Blade Runner, corporations control technology and even human life. In books like Neuromancer, companies act without limits. These stories may look like fiction, but in the real world, some companies already have a lot of power. One example from Brazil is Vale, one of the largest mining companies in the world.

Vale is a company that works with mining, especially iron ore. It is very important for the Brazilian economy, and it operates in many countries. Because of its size and influence, Vale has a strong impact on both the environment and people’s lives. However, this power has also created serious problems.

In 2019, a dam owned by Vale collapsed in Brumadinho, Brazil. This disaster killed more than 200 people and destroyed the environment around the area. Before that, in 2015, another dam disaster (in Mariana) also caused great damage. These events show how a corporation’s actions can affect human life in a very direct and dangerous way.

These two cities, Mariana and Brumadinho, are in my state Minas Gerais, in Brazil, and they are not far from my city. Until today, I still remember these disasters and how scary they were for society. Many people lost family members who lived in the city or worked in the company, it showed how one company’s actions can affect so many lives. This is why it is important to think about these problems and not ignore them.

This situation connects to cyberpunk ideas. In many cyberpunk stories, companies focus on profit and ignore human consequences. In the same way, Vale was criticized for not taking enough safety measures before the disasters. Like the corporations in Machinehood, the company had economic power, but the people suffered the consequences.

Another important point is how corporations can be stronger than government control. After the disasters, Vale had to pay fines and compensation. But many people believe that the punishments were not enough compared to the damage caused. This raises an important question: if a company can cause so much harm and still continue operating, does it have too much power?

Are we moving toward a cyberpunk future? In some ways, yes. Vale shows how a company can have a big influence on society, environment, and even politics. However, there are still laws and public pressure that try to control these companies. In Brazil, people protested and demanded justice after the disasters. This shows that society still has a voice.

This is not only a problem in Brazil. Around the world, large corporations influence governments and economies. But different countries respond in different ways. Some places have stronger environmental laws, while others depend more on companies for economic growth. This creates a global situation similar to cyberpunk worlds, where power is not equal. we are not fully in a cyberpunk world yet. Governments, laws, and public opinion still play an important role. Cyberpunk stories help us understand these risks and remind us to be careful about how much power we give to corporations.

Sources https://vale.com/esg/brumadinho https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/02/09/world/americas/brazil-dam-collapse.html https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/brazil_dam_disaster https://g1.globo.com/mg/minas-gerais/desastre-ambiental-em-mariana/noticia/2019/03/09/tragedia-de-mariana-nao-tem-punidos-apos-mais-de-3-anos-e-processo-esta-parado.ghtml I did not use AI, it was all based on my own understanding and research.

The issues that we have been exploring all semester bring us to one central question. Are we heading faster to a future that seemed in the far distance? Will corporations dominate and deteriorate the world as we know it? And if so, how will we stop it? Not only does cyberpunk warn us about this future, but it may also be giving us solutions on how to stop it from happening. From the Tyrell Corporation in Blade Runner to the pill funders in Machinehood, we see the damage that large corporations can have on the function of our society as a whole. One of the biggest ways we see corporation domination is in the realm of privacy and surveillance capitalism, a space that may too soon be out of our control. When you use services such as Google and Facebook, there are agreements to the use of your data and personal information that you sign off on every time. In a book written about the current surveillance state, Shoshana Zubodf writes that the data gathered by these companies is used by other companies to predict and influence our behaviors (Kavenna, 2019). Though you may not be aware that you are allowing the use of your data by other companies, if you read the lengthy privacy statements that many just accept, you will find your acceptance to these rules. More corporations such as Tik Tok use algorithms to gather data, facial expressions, locations, and voiceprints to build profiles on who they think that you are and what you would like (10 Eye-Opening Examples of Surveillance Capitalism in Action - VOICES of CAPITALISM, 2025). Though we may like this because it shows us funny videos, what happens when the algorithm changes? In fact, after most of TikTok was bought by the U.S. the privacy policy changed to allow precise location data if you have your location services on (Lin, 2026). This comes at a time where ICE is being deployed in heavily immigrant populated areas and people are being killed by said ICE agents. It makes it that much scarier that there is a way to find your exact location just by trying to find entertainment through Tik Tok. Though not exactly the same, the ideas of constantly tracking and using our data to increase their ad revenue, track our locations, and push propaganda into our lives is reminiscent of the pill funders in Machinehood. In the novel, the pill funders are an amalgamation of all of the wealthy corporations and wealthy people who essentially control the world by making them reliant on their pills. In a similar way, there is a group of a few corporations that are controlling what we see, hear, and interact with through privacy policies. Because of this comparison, I am led to believe that we are not as far away from a cyberpunk corporation-controlled future as it seems. Specifically under the Trump presidency, we stray further and further away from a world where we have personal autonomy and closer to a world with heavy cyberpunk surveillance.

AI was not used in any form of creating this post. All words, thoughts, and plannings are from myself.

10 Eye-Opening Examples of Surveillance Capitalism in Action - VOICES OF CAPITALISM. (2025, October 3). Inside Political Science. https://voicesofcapitalism.com/surveillance-capitalism-examples/ Kavenna, J. (2019, October 4). Shoshana Zuboff: “Surveillance capitalism is an assault on human autonomy.” The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/oct/04/shoshana-zuboff-surveillance-capitalism-assault-human-automomy-digital-privacy Lin, P. (2026, January 27). Under U.S. Ownership, TikTok Poses an Even Greater Threat to Americans’ Privacy. Harvard.edu. https://www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/carr-ryan/our-work/carr-ryan-commentary/under-us-ownership-tiktok-poses-even-greater-threat

In classic cyberpunk works like Blade Runner, corporations like the Tyrell Corporation hold more power than governments, shaping not only economies but human identity itself. While this once seemed like dystopian fiction, the growing influence of modern tech companies, especially Microsoft, raises an unsettling question: are we already living in the early stages of a cyberpunk reality?

Microsoft is no longer just a software company; it is a global infrastructure provider. Through its Azure cloud platform, the company supplies digital services to governments, militaries, and public institutions worldwide. According to reporting from outlets like The New York Times and MIT Technology Review, cloud providers like Microsoft play a critical role in election security, data storage, and even cybersecurity for democratic systems. While this may seem beneficial, it also means that a private corporation is deeply embedded in the functioning of democracy itself.

This reflects a key cyberpunk theme: the outsourcing of public power to private entities. In Neuromancer, corporations operate beyond regulation, controlling information flows and shaping global systems. Similarly, Microsoft’s influence over cloud infrastructure gives it a form of “soft power” that governments increasingly rely on. If a corporation controls the systems that store voter data, secure elections, or manage public communication platforms, the line between public governance and corporate control begins to blur.

Another major concern is artificial intelligence. Microsoft’s partnership with OpenAI and its integration of AI into products like Copilot further expands its influence over how information is generated, distributed, and consumed. AI systems shape what people see, how they understand political issues, and even how they engage with democratic processes. This introduces the idea of algorithmic influence, where decisions that affect millions are guided not by elected officials, but by corporate-designed systems.

However, it is important not to overstate the case. Unlike in cyberpunk fiction, corporations like Microsoft still operate within legal frameworks and are subject to government regulation. Laws regarding data privacy, antitrust enforcement, and AI governance act as checks on corporate power. Additionally, democratic societies still retain the ability to challenge corporations through public pressure, legislation, and activism.

At the same time, this is not just an American issue. Globally, countries interact with tech corporations differently. In the European Union, stricter regulations like the GDPR aim to limit corporate data control. In contrast, other regions may rely more heavily on corporate infrastructure due to limited state resources. This variation highlights how corporate power is shaped by political and cultural contexts, not just technological capability.

So, are we heading toward cyberpunk’s corporate dominance? The answer is complicated. Cyberpunk may exaggerate reality, but it also serves as a warning. The increasing reliance on companies like Microsoft suggests that we are moving toward a world where corporations play a central role in shaping democratic systems. However, the future is not fixed. The presence of regulatory frameworks, public accountability, and global diversity in governance means that this trajectory is still being negotiated.

Ultimately, cyberpunk is less a prediction and more a critique. It forces us to question who holds power and how that power is used. As technology continues to evolve, maintaining a balance between innovation and democratic control will be essential. Otherwise, the line between fiction and reality may become thinner than we expect.